Criminal: A Bad-Boy Stepbrother Romance (17 page)

He looks me in the eyes as he brings a gag to my
mouth, his lip twitching in a strange manner.

"Don't piss off Axel. Just sit and be good,"
he orders with a tone of warning that sends a shiver up my spine.

I nod, but my stomach is roiling.

What's happening down there? And where is Axel taking
Kaiden?

"You know what I can do to her," Axel says
to me, and I have never wanted so bad to fucking kill someone as I do
right now.

He has Abigail captive, and feeling powerless isn't
something I like. I want to head butt these two assholes, run up the
stairs and save her. Then just run away.

This is all my fault.

I should have never told her to come back here, but I
had hoped that if we got rid of this bullshit looming over me, we
could be free. I'm being naive, and that just makes me so much
angrier.

"And you know what I can do for you," Axel
says, not bothering to wait for my response. He knows me too well,
anyways. That I'm a hothead but that I've never killed.

That I've never got myself in so over my head that I
had to.

But he still asked me to kill Ryder, knowing I
couldn't, and now this is his punishment for disobeying him.

He always has to up the ante.

"I'm not fucking killing anyone, Axel," I
say, hoping my words sound terrifying despite the pain that's lacing
them.

Abby wasn't wrong, I really do need to go to a
hospital, but there's no time for those luxuries. At least the memory
of her sucking me off can numb a bit of my agony.

"Yeah, well, kid? I think you will. Because if
you don't, then I'm going to get to him, bring him back here, let him
get his revenge on you via your little sister, and then I'll kill him
myself. But you know I don't like killing people myself don't you?"
he says coolly, and his words make me hate him more than anything
else ever has.

Even Ryder doesn't piss me off this much.

"Ryder came here this morning, you know? Told me
about the little stunt you pulled. And so now, you're going to finish
the job, and then you're going to come back here, retrieve your
little sister, and then..." he pauses, pacing in front of me,
his arms folded.

He's not a muscular guy, but he's strong. I've seen
him break people's fingers and hands just for pissing him off, but he
always does it as a threat, not as an endgame. He leaves that to his
lackeys. Like me.

Originally, the deal was that I could go free on the
charges against me and take over Ryder's business, but I guess Axel's
a smart enough guy to know that that isn't what I want anymore.

Still, his words surprise me.

"Once you finish up here, we're done. The DA
will throw out the case, and you'll get the fuck out of here.
Everyone wins," he says, offering his hands to heaven.

I sneer, the pain getting to me, so I just give a nod
of my head.

"Let's get this done."

***

The cop drives me back to my place, and I grab a few
things. Bullets, some cash left around, and a bit of clothing for
Abby and myself. We're going to need it once we're out of here and
trying to lay low.

I look in her drawers, the nightclub clothes she
wears to work contrasting so much against the outfits she brought
when she first moved in.

Prissy little blouses and skirts, all carefully
pressed and folded, and I simply dump them in the backpack along with
her laptop.

I sling it over my shoulder, look back at the world
I'd made here, and walk away.

My bike's where I left it and I hop on.

Axel told me that Ryder was going to a doctor friend
of his on the outskirts of town, and that he's going to be laying low
there for a few days. He'll be alone for one hour, forty minutes from
now, and I have to be there and take advantage of what might be my
only opportunity to save Abigail and get us both out of this mess.

Usually riding my bike soothes me.

The wind whipping through my hair used to make me
feel so free, but today it just feels like another burden. Another
mask I have to wear to get what I want.

I drive the familiar roads, and I don't know how I'm
going to do this. To actually pull the trigger? To see a man, living
before me, and then take that from him?

Even though Ryder's an ass and deserves it, I just
don't know that I can be the one to do it.

But I have to. That's what I have to do to save Abby,
and that's what I'm going to do.

I stop outside the place, kicking down my stand and
leaning my bike. I know he likely heard me coming up the gravel
drive, but I still move slow and quiet, making sure that my steps
don't make any more sound than they need to.

My gun's in my hands, cocked and ready, and I slow my
breathing so that I can hear.

There's nothing, no sounds coming from out the open
windows, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe he's asleep and up on
pain meds. I did a number on his throat, and I can only imagine what
a bitch that must be.

I go to the door and just as Axel promised, it's
unlocked. Swinging it inwards I look around the aged kitchen, the
table filled with drugs, and I have a bad feeling about this. If I'm
caught here with a gun, that's going to be a lot more time than just
three years.

This is fucking premeditated!

But I know better than to get stuck inside my head,
and I shake off my fear and worries.

There's no use getting lost in my thoughts and
fretting, that'll just get me killed.

I walk past the kitchen table, the smell of cat urine
strong in the air as I move through to the living room. There's no
one here, and I can hear the wheezing of someone just two doors down
the hall.

This is it,
I tell myself inwardly, psyching
myself up.

I shake out my shoulders, loosening my arms as I make
my way past the first bedroom. There's still the rhythmic wheezing,
and I know that Ryder's in there, asleep.

Vulnerable.

The thought makes me sick to my stomach about what
I've become but it doesn't matter. I keep going.

I nudge open the door, looking at him lying on the
bed and point my gun. His chest rises and falls as he struggles to
breathe, the bandage around his throat soaked with blood.

Last night I stared down the gun, pointed at his
head, and I pulled the trigger. I was so close to snuffing him out,
but I couldn't. And now I hesitate.

And then I lower my gun.

I can't do it. There's gotta be another way to save
Abby. I know the warehouse inside and out, and if she's locked in his
office, all I'd have to do is scale the building and get out. I walk
down the hall, back towards the kitchen, my mind reeling.

I place the gun down as I sit, trying to collect
myself.
This is your only chance
, I chastise myself.
Be a
man. Save your girl.

But I look at the gun, and I know I can't. I stand
up, moving for the door to leave when I realize I can't hear the
wheezing anymore. I listen intently, straining my ears as I try to
catch the familiar sound of safety, but there's nothing.

And then there's only blackness.

I don't know how long Kaiden's been gone and I've
been left alone in this room. I'm chilly, my tank top and skirt doing
nothing to keep out the chilliness of the warehouse and the cold
metal chair pressing into me.

I'm still sweating, though, fear and anxiety making
me unable to calm down or relax. I don't know what to do, because
there's nothing I
can
do. Just sit and wait, bound to this
chair. I don't even know if there's anyone else in the warehouse or
if I'm all alone in here.

I haven't heard from anyone, and there's not even a
clock to keep me company.

I find myself struggling. Not just with being bound
in this chair, not just with being held captive by a drug gang, but
even with who I am and who I want to be.

I see myself in college, studying and complaining to
a friend about my grades or how hard a midterm was. That kind of
thing is supposed to be the most dramatic thing happening to me in my
life.